Not Alone
by Tennoko Endellion
Summary: Prophecies have a way of pointing to more than one event, and fate has a way of bringing people together.  The Doctor and Rose reunite.   This story is currently on hiatus and being reworked.
1. Surprise!

**A/N: Okay, it's my first Doctor Who fic. I'm not promising anything.**

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"Doctor!" Amy called over the roaring sound of the TARDIS. "We're going to crash, aren't we?"

"Of course not!" the Doctor yelled back. "We're just… having difficulties. Nothing to worry about." _Come on, girl,_ he begged. _Whatever it is your doing, would you consider not doing it for a while, at least until we land?_

The shaking continued.

"Doctor?" Amy shouted.

"Not now, Pond!" he cried. "I'm trying to fly the TARDIS!" He picked up the mallet and slammed it down on the console. "Oh, come on!"

Behind him, Amy and Rory were clinging to the railing for dear life.

"Doctor, I really think you should look at this," Amy insisted.

"What is it, Pond? I really don't have time for this—" He turned around. "Oh." _What?_

There appeared to be a large hole hanging in midair. A hole. On his TARDIS.

"Let's see, large opening in midair, suddenly appearing on board the TARDIS" he said quickly, though his mind was already several steps ahead. "What could it be?"

"Don't look at me!" Amy protested. "I haven't exactly had much experience with weird… gape-y… things. Well, apart from the crack in my wall…"

"It's stopped," the Doctor said, ignoring her. The TARDIS no longer looked, felt, or sounded like it was about to shake itself apart, which was usually a pretty good thing.

The hole (for lack of a better word) which had up until now been an appropriately hole-ish grey-y black sort of color, suddenly began to grow golden.

"_She is returning," _a feminine voice whispered.

He whirled on Amy. "What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything!" She looked to Rory for backup, and he nodded.

"_The Bad Wolf," _the voice continued.

"Not funny," the Doctor grumbled.

The TARDIS rocked as if it had hit something—hard—and all three of its passengers were thrown to the ground. All three shielded their eyes as the glow approached the point of blinding brightness.

And then it was gone.

The Doctor pulled himself to his feet, staring in awe and disbelief at the woman who stood where the hole had just closed.

"Oh," she said, turning around, not seeming to notice that there was anyone else present. "Looks different…"

She swayed, and the Doctor jumped forward and caught her without batting an eye.

As he lowered her to the floor he took in her face. She looked much the same as when he had last seen her—

He swallowed. Not one of his favorite memories, that.

Suddenly the whole thing came flooding back from somewhere deep in the underside of his mind, and he gasped, feeling as if his hearts were being torn out of his chest. Cliché, yes, but painful.

"Doctor?" His head snapped up as Amy said his name. She edged closer. "Who is she?"

Suddenly, the widest grin Amy had ever seen broke out across his face. "Rory Williams, Amelia Pond, allow me to introduce you to Rose Tyler!"

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**A/N: Love it? Hate it? Want more? Want less? Think I should go jump in a black hole? Review!**


	2. I Can't Believe My Eyes

"Who's Rose Tyler?" Amy asked after the Doctor had disappeared into the depths of the TARDIS, carrying the unconscious woman in his arms.

"How should I know?" Rory asked.

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**"Who is she?" Amy asked, the moment the Doctor reappeared in the control room.

"Oh, she and I used to travel together," he said, "back when I... was a different man." His tone was lighthearted, but for a second something else, something sadder, flickered in his eyes.

"What happened?" she asked gently.

"I lost her."

Amy had known that the Doctor was older than he looked, but for an instant she saw it all written on his face, every year of it. Her heart panged in sympathy. No wonder he never talked about his past, if it was all like that.

"Well, now you've found her again," she said a little too cheerfully, forcing a smile.

The Doctor just looked at her.

"Right." The smile disappeared. "I'll just see where Rory went off to, then." She turned and walked away.

* * *

The Doctor leaned on the console. His mind was racing even faster than usual, because even for him this was a bit much. Rose Tyler was back. That was big. Huge, actually. Enormous.

Fantastic, even.

But why? Why now? Was there some other universe-ending cataclysm approaching that she had come to warn him about? Because he knew Rose Tyler and she wouldn't risk destroying two parallel worlds just to say hello. Would she?

_"Can't you come through properly?"_

_"The whole thing would fracture. Two universes would collapse."_

_"…So?"_

Something niggled in the back of his head, diverting his attention. It was the TARDIS._ What is it now?_

Ah. Rose. Rose was waking up.

He was gone in a flash.

* * *

Rose had become so accustomed to waking up disoriented that when for once she didn't it took her a moment to realize that something was not wrong but very, very right. Her eyes flew open, and she gasped.

The TARDIS. She was on the TARDIS.

For a moment, she just laid there and breathed in the _right_ness of everything. In the other world, it had been like her feet didn't quite touch the ground, as though she were a ship without anchor that was in danger of drifting away. But here, here she was safe. Connected. _Right._

She felt more alive than she had in a long, long time.

And someone was watching her.

She sat up, her eyes immediately drawn to the door. Because leaning against the door-frame was a man she had never seen before in her life yet who was staring at her as if she were the most precious thing in the - oh.

"Doctor?" she asked.

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With one word, Rose banished half of his fears. She'd recognized him right away; no blaming it on an alien teleport or some kind of trick; she hadn't even asked him to change back. Yet.

He couldn't help it. He smiled.

"How did you know it was me?"

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**A/N: Yes, I went back and edited. Added more actually. You see, what happened was... well. The black hole was lovely, by the way. You'll never guess who I met in there... No cookies, though. Didn't see my umbrella, either. But I found this lovely chapter there, and now that the TARDIS has towed me out again... Sorry, I'm rambling again, aren't I? I'll just stop now. Review.  
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	3. Oh

**A/N: I did fix that last chapter… you should go back and check if you haven't already. Oh, and thank you ALL for your reviews. :) Keep 'em coming and I may feel motivated to keep writing… ;)**

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"How did you know it was me?"

Rose gave that a moment's thought. How had she? "Well considering where we are, it wasn't very hard to guess," she said.

"Good point. A very good point. And this… this doesn't bother you at all?" he asked, indicating himself and his new—well, new for Rose anyway—appearance.

Rose looked into his eyes and became very silent. She knew what he was thinking; she was going to want him to change back, which he couldn't, and she wouldn't trust the new him and he'd have to find some way of proving to her that he was still him, her Doctor.

Well, that last part may have been partially true, but there was no way Rose was going to accuse the Doctor of being a Slitheen again.

"No," she said. "It'll… take some getting used to, but you're still the Doctor."

He grinned a grin that would have proven Rose's statement if she hadn't already been sure of it, because that was _her Doctor's smile_ that spilt his face from ear to ear and made his eyes twinkle as if he were about to take her hand and tell her to run, and god, but she wasn't half turning into him, was she?

"That's good. That's very good, Rose Tyler, that is very extremely fantastically, brilliantly _good!"_ In a sudden release of energy, he leapt over and yanked back the covers of her bed, pulling her to her feet. "Well, come on, you can't lay in bed all day! Where's the fun in that?"

Rose laughed and pulled out of his grasp before he could drag her all the way to the console room. "At least let me put something else on first; these clothes are disgusting!"

"Fine, fine. Though I don't see why you humans find it necessary to go about changing your outfits all the time. It's not like you change all that much from one day to the next; what's wrong with just picking one—"

Rose interrupted his ramble by shoving him towards the door. "Doctor. _Out._"

She shut the door behind him, and then laughed in pure joy, allowing herself for a moment to forget about impending doom and invasion and all that and just reveled in the fact that she was finally home, and nothing, but nothing, was going to send her back.

The TARDIS, bless her, had saved all of Rose's old clothes from before...well. It was an easy task to find something fresh and un-slept-in to put on. In fact, Rose, who had undergone a major change of wardrobe after being marooned on "Pete's World," was pleased to find familiar textiles draped over nearly every surface. She slipped into something clean and stepped out.

The moveable corridors of the TARDIS responded to her presence by shifting in such a way that almost the moment Rose began walking she found herself in the console room. There was the Doctor... and a girl. A tall, ginger-headed girl, talking and smiling with the Doctor.

_Should have expected this,_ Rose thought. _Martha and Donna and now her... I wonder if she knows she's the latest in a long line. _She was about to turn and run back to her room, but something nudging in the back of her mind stopped her. _Can't really blame him for finding someone else, _she rationalized. _He wanted me to be happy, I want him to be happy. Besides, it's not like they're..._

Her thoughts trailed off as the Doctor turned. "Rose!" he called.

She crossed the room and came to rest by his side. "Who's this?" she asked, controlling her voice to hide her inner confusion. Lots of practice with that, she'd got. One of the many skills she'd picked up from the alternate Torchwood.

* * *

The Doctor looked from Rose to Amy and back. "Rose Tyler, this is Amelia Pond."

Amy glared at him. "It's _Williams._"

He ignored her. Williams was such a boring name. "It's not. It's Pond."

"It's Williams," Pond insisted. "Rory and Amy Williams."

"Hang on," Rose interrupted. "Who's Rory?"

Ah, right, Mr. Pond. Rose hadn't met him yet, had she? Where was he?

"Um, that's me," said Rory, emerging from behind the time rotor. "Rory Pon-_Williams_. Rory Williams." He glanced at his wife, wha had hifted her glare from the Doctor to him.

"Wait a minute," Rose said, looking back and forth between the two Ponds, her eyes lighting upon the left hand of each. "You two are married?"

"Very good, Rose!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Nice deducting, I always knew you were clever. Now." He stepped forward and put himself right in her face, which the old him had never done so she wouldn't be used to it but never mind, and said, "What are you doing here? Not that I mind, of course, but, better question, how did you get here, who's trying to destroy the universe this time and why are you shaking your head?"

Rose smiled, sticking her tongue between her teeth, a smile that the Doctor was pleased to discover still made his insides feel all strange and wibbley. "You never change, do you?" she said. "I mean, obviously, you do, but you really don't, do you?" She bit her lip. "Someone else came through the Void first," she said. "Picked up the scent of this universe off of me and Mum. At least, that's how he explained it."

"Who?"

"You. The other you."

"Oh, other me. How is other me? Where is other me? Didn't you bring him with you?"

Rose looked down.

"Excuse me?" Amy interrupted. "_Other you?_ What are you talking about?"

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other. "Long story," they said simultaneously. They both grinned. But Rose's grin vanished quickly.

"He's gone," she said softly, turning back to the Doctor, looking down again. "He died."

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**A/N: Ooh, cliffhanger, kind of. I should probably let you know that it'll be difficult for me to update in the forseeable future. My computer has a virus so I have to use my parents'... and of course my school has blocked FanFiction altogether... *Sigh.* Am I doing okay with the characters? I'm worried that they might be a little out of character...**


	4. Rose Remembers

**Not Alone Chapter 4**

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"The metacrisis was unstable, wasn't it?" the Doctor asked.

Rose nodded. "He said to tell you that it's not your fault." She continued to stare at the ground, but it was still obvious that she was holding back tears.

_Oh, Rose…_

"He wasn't you, though," she continued. "He had your face and your memories but he wasn't you…"

The Doctor reached for Rose's hand, hoping beyond hope that she wouldn't pull away from an unfamilar touch. She didn't; instead, she practically collapsed onto him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and allowing him to wrap his arms around her.

Rose closed her eyes.

* * *

_The clone of the Doctor leaned down so that his lips were only inches away from her ear._

**_Three words._**_ Rose Tyler waited with her heart in her throat for him to say the three words that didn't need saying._

_His face was so close to hers; she didn't even think about it. By the time the kiss ended the original Doctor was gone._

_Neither of them had been too sure of themselves at first, or of each other. The new Doctor had to adjust to being human (or mostly human), and Rose had to adjust to a man who was identical to the man she loved... or mostly identical. She'd met Donna Noble, and it was obvious that bit of her personality had rubbed off on this version of the Doctor. He was rude - not that he hadn't been already - and a bit more prone to shouting. But mostly it was something that Rose couldn't put her finger on, something... just... well, he was _different,_ was all._

_They fought. Not like she and the Doctor had fought (god, he _was_ the Doctor; why couldn't she think of him like that?), because they had, but more aggressively. She didn't even know what they argued about, half the time. But it was clear that this was _not_ the happy life the Doctor had intended for them. In the end, Jackie had gotten fed up and kicked them both out._

_They still saw each other, of course. Torchwood wouldn't pass up the opportunity to take advantage of the knowledge of a former Time Lord, after all, and Torchwoood was the closest thing to traveling the stars that the parallel world had to offer._

_There was a girl there... he'd avoided her at first, but Rose had encouraged him. Encouraged them both. They'd made a cute couple. It had broken Rose's heart - again - but of course she hadn't let _him_ see that. Couldn't have him feeling guilty. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't her Doctor._

__

They had stayed friends, of course. Nothing could change that. Their coworkers would often find them lughing over something that had happened long ago - or far in the future - on some strange alien world, in another universe entirely. Rose never let them see how empty that laughter was. Not even him. Especially not him.

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"He picked a human name," Rose whispered. "John Smith."

The Doctor sighed. Other him knew how to send a message.

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_A part of Rose had actually enjoyed playing matchmaker, nudging the two of them together. It was obvious that Sophie fancied him, and, slightly less so, that John fancied her back._

_Rose was very good at reading the Doctor's expressions. Even when he was someone else._

_He'd told her, at first, that he wouldn't even consider it. What hey had, though not... exactly what it had bee before, was strong, he said. Too strong to break. But over time, with Sophie pulling on one end and Rose pushing on the other, the former Time Lord had to give in to his now all too human heart._

_Rose had forced herself to be happy when her friend came into work with an engagement ring on her finger. It was what she'd wanted, after all. And Sophie was her friend, after all. It had been Rose's own stories that had first attracted her to the Doctor - to John._

_Someone had pointed out that her fiance appeared to be playing hooky, and Sophie explained that he was home sick. A migrane. That should have been enough to pique Rose's concern. The Doctor never got sick. But he was human now. And he wasn't the Doctor, after all. He was John Smith who loved Sophie Potter, and she was Rose Tyler who loved the Doctor._

_It had turned out to be more than a simple migrane after all. Sophie had called on him in his flat after work that evening and had found him unconscious on the floor._

_She'd called Torchwood, who had brought him to their medical facility - one bottle of his blood still contained enough alien DNA to change thr future of the human race._

_Still, none of Torchwood's doctors had been able to pinpoint what was wrong with him, aside from the fact that his neural readings were growing increasingly erratic. It was his own explanation that told them that all the knowledge and intelligence of a Time Lord had never been meant to fit inside a brain that only used ten percent of itself. Looking back, he was amazed that he had lasted this long. Then he'd started spouting off all kinds of crazy theories that no one could understand, and Rose's heart broke once again. For a minute she forgot all about parallel worlds and Sophie Potters and John Smiths and it was her Doctor lying there dying and she couldn't just stand there and take it. Wasn't there something they could do?_

_But there wasn't, short of wiping all his memories, and then who would he be? Not the Doctor, and not John Smith, either, because they would have to wipe everything, and who was to say there would be enough left to even count as a person? No. They had to just stand there and let him die._

_Rose had stayed for Sophie, who had never lost anyone before, and certainly never like this. She was older than Rose, but so much more innocent. Sophie had never left Earth, had never seen other worlds, had never watched the Earth burn or been to 15-News New York, never been knighted (Dame-ed?) by Queen Victoria and then exiled, never watched someone she loved try to choose between her and the earth - her and the **universe**..._

_Well. You get the idea._

_Sophie **needed **Rose right then, and Rose never abandoned anyone who needed her..._

_It didn't take long._

_

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The Doctor, for once, didn't know what to say. What did you say to comfort the girl you... cared about over the death of your clone? Somehow, he'd never really thought about it before. Although considering the kind of stuff that tended to happen to him, maybe he should have. Perhaps he should make a list...

Rose's arm chose that moment to shift, and suddenly the Doctor found himself thinking how very nice she felt and how much he - really shouldn't be thinking that, really. No matter how soft and beautiful and brilliant... No! He was the Doctor and she was Rose Tyler and they were not. Like. That.

After forty one point six seconds of embracing, he let go.

Rose looked up at him through a film of tears, confusion written all over her face. He looked away.

"So," he said. "How about those alien invaders from beyond the void?"

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**A/N: There you have it: another chapter. What do you think? And yes, I will be getting on with the plot soon. Now... any ideas about who the invaders from another universe should be..? This could get interesting.**


	5. Planetfall

**A/N: I spent days on this chapter and then it decided it needed me to rewrite it... basically, sorry for the delay, hope you enjoy it, review! Yeah, that last bit's especially important. REVIEW!**

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Rose crossed her arms. "They stole the Dimension Cannon right from under our noses," she said. "We didn't even notice 'till the universe started fracturing..."

"Universe fracturing?" Rory said. "What is that, like when the TARDIS exploded?"

"Parallel universes, Rory," the Doctor said, launching into motion, flicking switches and pressing buttons. "Travel between them can't happen, so when it does, reality starts to crack. It's completely different."

"Doctor," Rose said, stepping in front of him an physically cutting him off from whichever of the TARDIS controls he was about to go for. "Did he just say that the TARDIS _exploded_?"

"Ah, yes, he did, and that is a story for another time, and you are not going to let this go, are you, Rose?"

Rose just glared at him. Btu she couldn't keep up the serious look for long, and it quickly transformed into a smile. "No, I'm not," she said, managing to sound at once firm and as if she were about to burst out laughing.

"No, of course not. You see, there was this crack on Amy's wall when she was a little girl, and then it started following us through time, and it turned out that it was all caused by the TARDIS exploding because - well, I don't actually know why. Something to do with silence, I suppose. I"m still working on it." He paused, but only for a second. "And you. How did you do that - the thing with the hole? You materialized on the TARDIS, and believe me that is not just impossible, that is _completely_ impossible, so how did you do it?"

Rose squirmed a bit as he looked at her like she was a very important clue that he was examining. It wasn't a bad feeling, actually, as Rose remembered how frequently his previous incarnation's "scientific"examinations of evidence had involved him licking things or putting them in his mouth...

This him probably didn't do that, though.

She bit her lip. "I don't remember all of it. Just like the time on the Gamestation... it's all sort of fuzzy. I do remember going back to Bad Wolf Bay, saying goodbye to Mum..." she swallowed. "I remember the Void. That didn't happen last time."

The Doctor began flipping switches again. "Where are we going?" Amy asked, her usual excitement somewhat subdued.

"If these aliens still have the Dimension cannon with them, that means they'll be easy to track."

"You can do that?" asked Rory. "Track people through time and space?"

"Why?" said Amy. "You've got someone in mind?"

"Yes," said the Doctor, pulling the moveable screen toward him. "I've just done it, see?"

What Rory saw was a string of numbers an some strange looking symbols, but he had no time to comment, as the TARDIS jerked, symbolizing its entry into the Vortex and toward... someplace.

"Oh, I've missed this," Rose laughed, clinging to the console. Her eyes met the Doctor's and he laughed too. Amy raised an eyebrow at Rory and they both tried to avoid banging their heads on anything as the TARDIS huffed and groaned its way into existence.

* * *

"Eugliedion XII," the Doctor said as the four of them stepped out of the TARIS and almost directly into the trunk of a very large tree. "Known for its rain forests." He looked up. "Lucky we've landed during the dry season; the rains can get rather nasty."

Amy, Rory, and Rose immediately exchanged a glance that said something along the lines of _I don't believe that for a minute, do you?_ It was that or _Did you just feel a raindrop?_

The Doctor pulled a device out of his pocket. "What's that?" asked Rory.

"Timey-wimey detector," the Doctor and Rose said at once. They both grinned.

"But what's it for?" Amy said, annoyed.

"Goes ding when there's stuff," Rose said flippantly, almost as if she were quoting someone else's words.

"And detects inter-dimensional anomalies as well," the Doctor added. "Such as a Dimension Cannon. Now. If you see anyone alien carrying a large gun, that's probably our man. Or woman. Our... alien. Let's just go with that."

"But," said Rory. "We're on an alien planet. Won't _everyone_ look alien?"

"Yes, but they can't all be carrying big black guns, can they?"

Amy rolled her eyes. "Well, that narrows it down a bit."

The timey-wimey detector - _He made that name up,_ Amy thought - emitted a loud beep. "Aha!" the Doctor cried. He pointed the device ahead of him like a beacon. "Geronimo!" He grabbed Rose's hand, and they were off.

* * *

Rory and Amy trudged along behind the Doctor and the blond woman who was apparently his long lost friend. The two of them seemed completely oblivious to the blundering couple behind them.

"So who do you think she is?" Amy whispered in Rory's ear.

"What do you mean?" her husband said in surprise. "The Doctor said. She used to travel with him."

"Yeah, but just look at them," Amy said. "They are so into each other. I wonder why he never mentioned her..." she felt an odd sensation growing in her stomach, but pushed it to the back of her mind and promptly forgot about it.

"The trees are blue," Rory observed.

They were.

"This is your first planet, isn't it?" Amy realized.

"Yup," Rory answered. Between Venice and getting swallowed by the crack and the Pandorica and everything, he had never actually set foot on an alien planet - until now. Amy remembered her first alien planet an shuddered, hoping that Rory's wouldn't turn out to be quite so distressing.

Amy looked back up at the Doctor and Rose. That Rose woman. Something about her didn't sit well with Amy and she didn't know what it was.

"Did you hear that?" Rory said suddenly, grabbing Amy's arm and yanking her to a stop.

"What?"

"Hush."

Amy fell silent. There was a rustling sound somewhere in the branches above them, and the pair of out-of-place humans held perfectly still as the rustle moved away and finally vanished from their range of hearing.

"What was that?" Rory nearly whimpered.

"Oh, just aliens, probably," Amy said with practiced nonchalance, and looked around. "Where's the Doctor?"

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**A/N: Well, there you have it, folks. Very sorry for the delay am I. Also have a much better idea of where this story is going I do. Want I also to know what think you of new chapter this... Help out sort me grammar my! Review!**


	6. Yeah, We're Stuck

**A/N: Yup, Rose knows about the timey-wimey detector; I'll have to tell you about that one some time. And people? Thank you all so much for all the lovely reviews. Really. I haven't told you how much I appreciate them… well, I have now. But really, the point is, thanks. A ton. And, oh, yes, sorry about the delay, went on vacation, left my laptop at home (it's fixed now! Yay!)… sorry, sorry, I'll stop now and get on with the chapter. Enjoy!**

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The Doctor and Rose had kept walking, completely oblivious to the fact that their companions had fallen far behind. In fact, the Doctor's mind was so thoroughly occupied by two specific things that there was literally no room for anything else.

The first of these things was the alien threat at hand. That was always on his mind - well, whenever there was an alien threat, which, again, meant nearly always.

The other was Rose.

Rose. Just when he'd thought he'd accepted the fact that she wasn't coming back, that she was having a fantastic life with other him over in Pete-land, then she came crossing the Void and proving him wrong all over again.

Not that he minded Rose proving him wrong. Except that he did, actually, because in Pete's World she had been safe, or at least as safe as Rose Tyler ever could be working for Torchwood. Which, again, he didn't exactly approve of, but that wasn't exactly his choice. Could he help it if traveling with him had given her a taste for adventure? No. He couldn't. So shut up.

The Doctor stopped, and Rose stopped too. "What was that? Did you hear that? It sounded like…" he looked up. "Something in the trees."

Rose cocked her head to one side. "Do you think we're being followed?"

"Maybe," he said. "And maybe it's just…" he handed Rose the timey-wimey detector and took out his sonic screwdriver. He held it erect for a few seconds, and then his eyes went wide. He turned on Rose. "Get down! Get down, get down, get DOWN!" and he threw himself at her, knocking her to the ground, only to see a purple-feathered dart sticking out of her shoulder.

The Doctor's muttered "very, extremely not good" barely had time to escape his lips before a second dart hit him, knocking him out.

* * *

Wekoo inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of the fire. He opened his eyes and expelled the breath, feeling as if all his worries were being forced out of him as well.

It was a short reprieve. Seconds later Kowoya bounded into the clearing, throwing nature into disarray. Birds flew squawking from the trees; groundcrawlers scurried off through the underbrush. Wekoo gritted his teeth.

Kowoya stopped inches away from the grassy mound on which he sat, bowed jerkily, opened her mouth and released a torrent of words.

"Good morning, Master, I'm sorry I'm late but Seer Sonnan delayed me; she wanted me to bring you a message." Kowoya drew herself up to her full height, intent on conveying the message's full significance. "Intruders in the Sacred Grove, just as the Prophecies have said. The shrine is there as well. It is time now."

Wekoo regarded his pupil intently. "Is that the entirety of the message?"

"No, Master. The Seer also spoke words which I did not understand. She said, 'The Storm approaches… and the Wolf. Fear the Bad Wolf.' What does it mean, Master? What does it have to do with the Prophecies?"

His pupil appeared to be vibrating. Wekoo closed his eyes and took a - very - deep breath, separating himself from her overwhelming energy. Then he stood and grabbed his quiver. "I am going hunting, Kowoya. Return to the village." Then, in a few paces, he reached the trees, scaled up one of their trunks, and disappeared into the branches.

* * *

Many summers of practice made Wekoo's feet swift and light as he bounded from tree limb to tree limb, moving silently toward his target. It was the quickest way to travel in the forest where the trees grew so old and close that there was barely room to move between their stalks. Before long, the regular ashen-white branches gave way to blue ones, and Wekoo knew he was in the Sacred Grove.

Here, he tread even more carefully. _I can't risk offending a tree-spirit now,_ he reminded himself. _I have a task to complete._

There! Almost camouflaged against the forest was an angular structure, the likes of which Wekoo had seen only in the ancient scrolls. It was exactly like the one he had seen in the ancient scrolls, actually. But no drawing, he thought to himself, could do justice to the majestic blue shrine that had appeared in the middle of the Sacred Grove of the Goddess.

Wekoo dropped from the trees silently and approached this wonder. He felt drawn to it like a flutterbug to fire. Was something tugging at the back of his mind, drawing him in? He knew better; his shields were far too strong for that.

Wekoo laid his hand against the side of the shrine, admiring the odd contrast - wood and skin, orange on blue. The surface beneath his fingers felt cold and lifeless, yet at the same time touching it felt like resting a hand on the shoulder of an old friend, a lover…

Wekoo jerked his hand back, shocked. Such strange thoughts. And how could he have let himself be distracted from his task? He was a hunter on the trail. He had no time for such silly diversions.

With that thought he bounded up a tree and was on his way again. _Goddess, aid me,_ he whispered internally. _It seems I will need it._

_

* * *

_Rose ran her hand down the length of wood that constituted part of her prison. Under other circumstances, she might be fascinated by this structure, even think it beautiful, but as it was it was just annoying.

She sighed and looked to her left. Less than a meter away there was a cage identical to her own - a pale stalk rising from the earth before splitting into a dozen ashen-white limbs that curled around each other, creating an inescapable web before meeting again to seal off the whole thing. The effect looked like something out of a fairy tale - a bird cage melded with a tree.

That was where the Doctor was, still unconscious from whatever had knocked them out. She hoped. Rose thought she could see him breathing, but she wasn't sure. Anyway, the lack of golden light was reassuring. Unless there were deaths Time Lords couldn't cheat...

_Shut up,_ she thought, giving herself a good mental smack. _You need to be thinking of ways to get out of here, just like he would if he weren't too busy sleeping. _She rolled her eyes. _Yeah, he would go and get himself knocked out an' leave me all the hard work. Just like old times, this._

Rose gazed lazily about her surroundings. Trees... trees... and, ooh, yeah, more trees. That was real helpful. Not only were they completely alone, but there didn't appear to be any technology of any sort that the Doctor's sonic screwdriver could mess with, even if he were awake.

_Maybe those two'll show up,_ she thought, picturing Amy's and Rory's faces.

She looked back over at the Doctor, wishing he would wake up. At the very least that'd give her someone to talk to before she died of boredom.

* * *

"They could feed us, you know?" Rose said, rubbing her empty, grumbling stomach. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, only that the sun was now heating up the other side of her face. And long enough that she'd started talking aloud out of loneliness. Or boredom. Either way, she was talking to herself, which wasn't a good sign... unless you were the Doctor, in which case you were a nutter already and so it didn't matter.

Funnily, Rose had grown increasingly lethargic as time passed. Her earlier thought about food rolled easily out of her mind as she began staring off into space again. "So white," she muttered. "'S like everything's been bleached, yeah? Sort of like winter. All... grey and tired looking." Maybe that was why she felt so exhausted. Maybe all the energy had been bleached out of her, too. Rose let out a _huge_ yawn, stretching her limbs - the largest motion she'd made in - probably hours. Her eyelids, which felt very heavy, started to droop, and she was almost asleep when a loud yell jerked her back awake.

"ROSE! Aaah, my head," the Doctor's voice moaned from the other cage.

Rose turned just in time to see him jackknife into a sitting position, one hand pressed against his forehead. He looked over at Rose. "Ow," he informed her.

"'Bout time you woke up," she said loud enough for him to hear. "I was starting to wonder if you were..." She cleared her throat.

The Doctor blinked, seeming to take a second to assimilate her words. "No. No! I'm fine, apart from the headache, which, I should mention, is probably a side effect of the darts and just... how... long was I unconscious?"

Rose shrugged. "A while? I dunno. Feels like... a while." Maybe it should have bothered her more that she didn't know. It didn't, though. She paused and bit her lip. "So you're going to be okay, then, yeah? You're not gonna go... faintin' on me or anything, are ya'?"

The Doctor gave her a puzzled look. "Why would I do that?"

_Good question, that. Why _would_ he do that? _"I dunno, you were out for a good while there... you never know..." she fudged, and shrugged. And she felt the lethargy creeping in from the edges of her brain, too. "Mmm, could use a few winks myself," she muttered, stretching and moving into a more comfortable position. Really, it shouldn't have been that easy; well, the floor was alive - maybe it was rearranging itself to suit her needs? Rose didn't give it much more thought, though, as it really _was_ very comfortable and, mmm, what was the Doctor saying? Didn't matter now; all she wanted to do was rest. She yawned and dropped off to sleep, completely unaware of the Doctor calling her name.

* * *

**A/N: I think this might be my longest chapter, word-count-wise. Of course, my bits at the beginning and end are a part of that tally, too, so might be best not to put too much stock in that... Did you know that the little spell-check-er thing says 'grey' is spelled wrong? I don't like spelling it 'gray.' Makes me want to pronounce the 'a' like the 'a' in 'cat,' and I don't like how that sounds at all - sort of like a 'cat' choking on a 'hairball.' Ack. Hey, look, it's almost midnight... I'll see y'all later. 'Night. **


	7. Undercover Ponds

"Rose?"

There was no answer, which made sense as soon as the Doctor registered the fact that Rose had fallen asleep.

So she was tired. Of course she was tired. She'd crossed the Void all on her own, hadn't she? And then she'd been captured by aliens (again)...

The truth was, from the beginning the Doctor had sensed that there was something... different about Rose. What was it? Time? It had been a while for her, hadn't it? Canary Wharf and then a few years and then the Daleks and the Darkness and then a few more years until she had found him again. How did she keep doing that, by the way? It was odd. Well, time to work that out later. What was important was, Rose was different. She'd been different the last time he'd seen her but now she was different different, which was something - well - different. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on and therefore continued to irritate him, like when someone holds their finger a few inches away from your skin and says "I'm not touching you." He may have done that once or twice...

Still, it was a funny sort of feeling at the back of his head which he couldn't ignore. Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose, something about Rose, something strange and special and uniquely Rose Tyler... No, it couldn't be. Couldn't possibly be. At all. In any way. Dumb idea, didn't even make sense, never should have mentioned it in the first place, and did he mention, his head still hurt. What, exactly, had been in that dart? Never mind, find out later. Question was, what was going on and how could he make it stop?

Pockets. Yes! Wait, no, no sonic screwdriver in there. Where had he put it? Hadn't it been in his - no, it had been in his hand, and he'd dropped it. Lovely. Not... that it would do much good here, though, probably. Wood and all. Well, that was all right, then. He'd just come up with something else.

...

Right.

"Doctor!"

The Doctor turned. "Hello, Ponds."

"You're in a tree," Amy said.

"Yes," said the Doctor, glancing around. "I am. And you know what? So is Rose. So why don't you," he pointed at Rory, "go over there and see if she's okay."

Rory walked over to Rose's cage, and Amy took a few steps forward. "You're in a tree," she reiterated.  
"Yes, thank you, Amy," the Doctor said. "That's really very brilliant. Congratulations." His eyes drifted back over to Rory, who had his hands on Rose's pulse.

"Sleeping," he said. "I - she's just - sleeping. Nothing wrong."

"Well, that's good at least," the Doctor said. "That's very good. Amy, see if you can't find some sort of thing."

"What sort of thing? This sort of thing?" Amy held up the sonic screwdriver.

"Perfect!" He reached his arm out and took the screwdriver from Amy's proffering hand. "Where'd you find this? Thought I'd lost it."

"It was just laying on the ground along with the other thing," Rory said.

"Actually, I was thinking of more of a sort of release mechanism… thing," the Doctor continued, as if Rory hadn't said anything. "You know, the sort of mechanism that… releases things."

While Rory sulked, Amy circled the tree several times, but after several minutes of finding nothing, Amy decided that maybe there was nothing to find.

"You're certainly in a pickle, aren't you, Doctor?" Amy teased. Why did she always tease? "I don't see anything - a switch, a lever, nothing. You're stuck."

Funny, she almost sounds happy about it. "Pond, come here." Amy stepped closer. "You too," he said, looking over her shoulder at Rory.

"Now listen. Whoever's done this has got to have some sort of a reason. I need you to find out what that reason is. Got that?" Both of them nodded. "Good. Now. Here's the plan."

Rory and Amy listened intently to the Doctor's detailed instructions. Then, grabbing the timey-wimey detector from Amy, the Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at it until it sparked, then handed it back. "You take that. If the aliens who stole Rose's Dimension Cannon are here, it'll detect them."

"Won't it give us away, though?" Rory asked. "I mean, it was making that noise earlier…"

"I put it on silent," the Doctor said.

"Okay… so - so it won't give us away then. Right. Well. We'll just be off." He met Amy's eyes, and the two of them began strolling away.

"And stay away from hens!" the Doctor called out as they disappeared. _Oh, dear.

* * *

_

Amy shook her head. "Ah, he's probably just wandered off. Saw something that doesn't make sense, went off to poke it with a stick." She turned to her husband with wide, sparkling eyes that made Rory swallow. "He could be in trouble. We should go find him."

"Right," Rory said. Tracking down the Doctor, that shouldn't be too hard. Just run in the direction of the nearest danger... "He was ahead of us wasn't he? We should keep walking for a bit; we might see something."

"Something like?" Amy asked impatiently.

"I don't know, footprints?" Actually, Rory did know, because even if it had been in an alternate reality that never happened he still remembered training as a Roman soldier and everything else, and Romans were pretty good at tracking people. It was all a bit fuzzy, but Rory thought he could use it if need be. For Amy.

God, just listen to him! Just a little while ago he'd been an ordinary man getting married and all of a sudden here comes the Doctor and Rory's got memories of this whole other life, which included him being a Roman and plastic for 2,000 years, and it made his head hurt just thinking about it. So he tried not to. Except when he needed to. Like now, when the Doctor was missing and Amy was so obviously upset. Couldn't have Amy being upset, so what did he do but soldier on. In more ways than one.

After a few more yards they came across something interesting and most definitely incongruous with their surroundings. Amy knelt down on the dried leaves. "Look at this."

Rory crouched next to her. "That's..." He looked at the sonic screwdriver and weird bleepy thing in awe. "I mean, why would he just leave them?" He looked around, Roman senses kicking in almost on reflex. "There."

"What?"

Rory shuffled closer. "It's like... Someone else was here. See this?" He pointed to a patch of leaves about which Amy could see nothing unusual at all. "I think... I think someone took them, Amy."

They stood together and grabbed hands. "Well, we'll just have to go and find them, then, won't we?" Amy said.

* * *

In a cave like room, dark except for one tiny flicker of candlelight, and old woman sat hunched over an even older book.

Seer Sonnan stroked the worn, browned pages, muttering to herself, trying to seek some comfort from the words it contained. Such terrible visions she'd had, of the woman of yellow hair and golden light, and of the storm... but mostly of the Wolf. Was it all in accordance with the Prophecy, or was this some new fright to be unleashed upon her people? Sonnan dared not guess. It was her fate, as prophetess, to watch the future play out with only hints and whispers as guides. A taunting, that's all her vision was. The stars were laughing at her and her insignificant little world, and there was nothing she could do to change what would come to pass.

The Curse of the Seers.

Seer Sonnan bowed her head and whispered the words of the Prophecy one more time. Words of terror, words of hope. Which would they be? The Prophecy offered the chance for a choice, but the others would not listen. They had grown tired of listening to the prattling old woman who spoke of strangers from another world bringing death and destruction on their heels. Now they avoided her like a plague; some even whispered that she was responsible for the terrible blight that was upon them.

Was it not enough, Sonnan asked whatever gods listened, that so many had died already without this terrible curse being set upon them? That those who had been lost would continue to walk among their loved ones, refusing to rest quietly in the ground as was good and proper only added insult to grievous injury. If ever the children of Mella needed a hero, it was now.

But if their hero was also a devil...

Sonnan was torn from her musings by a commotion outside. From the shouting, angry rather than fearful, it seemed not to be another attack of the Ghosts but something else entirely, something which Sonnan decided demanded her attention.

With a weary sigh, the ancient woman stood, taking hold of her staff, and hobbled outside.

* * *

"They're _orange,_" Rory said.

"Yup," said Amy.

"The Doctor never said they were orange," Rory moaned. "How are we supposed to _blend in_ when the people we're supposed to be blending in _to _look like orange monkeys?"

"Shut up," Amy hissed. "They'll hear us." A pair of them had just passed dangerously close to their hiding place - a conveniently located and densely foliaged shrub.

"How much longer do we have to lie here?" Rory whispered when the danger had passed.

"Until the coast is clear," Amy answered. "You heard the Doctor; we're not to get caught."

"Um," said Rory. "I guess that would be a problem, then."

Amy tore her eyes away from his and followed his upward-pointing finger to where a very large and very angry looking orange monkey stood with his arms crossed, glaring down at them.

* * *

"They must be spies!" Hueta bellowed. "See what strange beings they are. They must be in league with the other pair which Master Wekoo captured just this morning."

The crowd murmured appreciatively. Hueta's voice had the ring of conviction, and, truly, the creatures did look like the prisoners, just as Hueta said.

"Why aren't they in the Prophecy?" Joomi's reedy voice called out. "We've all seen the drawings, after all, and they're not in them."

The crowd murmured again in agreement. This deviation from the known frightened the people, and the creature's eyes widened as the tension grew. Their arms were held behind behind their back by two men who were bigger than both of them combined, but the creatures still looked as if they might try to bolt. Especially the one with the short fur on his head.

"They could be hers," Kowoya said.

Everyone fell silent. Kowoya was tiny, but she commanded a great deal of authority and respect among the people, who were acutely aware of her parentage. They listened intently.

"They could be. Little is known about that part of the Prophecy, and if they _are_ that, it would be a mistake to injure them."

"Not necessarily," said Hueta. He glared at the creatures. "It may be safer to restrain them. We could use them to sway her decision, if they are so important to her."

"That's a huge risk," Joomi said. "We should consult the Master before we do anything."

That made Hueta pause. "Maybe you're right," he allowed. "But we must have some way to prevent them from escaping. Look at them; they'll run the minute they're let go of."

The crowd's murmurs increased until its members were shouting at each other, even bordering on violence. In the fray, one of the creatures even escaped its captor before it was grabbed up again.

It was to this scuttle that Sonnan emerged when she stepped out of her hut. A young man nearly ran into her, saw her, froze, and was then knocked over as a larger man collided with him. Drawing herself up to her full height and leaning heavily on her staff, the Seer spoke.

"Children!"

Nothing moved.

* * *

**A/N: I'm really sorry about the wait. Let's just say that I have a few misgivings about this story and I was nervous... but this chapter's extra long to make up for it, so there you go.**


	8. Important:  A Word From the Author

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I know, it hasn't been _too_ long, but I'm having some trouble with this story. Basically, I'm thinking of rewriting it in such a way that I can handle it better. I really want this story to be the best it can be, and in order for that to happen I need to change a few things. Don't worry, though. The basic elements of the story won't change. Thank you for your patience and sorry for the inconvenience.  
**


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